Should the Government indorse the bonds of railroad company to the amount of $15,000,000, the annual interest at 5 per centum would amount to $750,000. Should the railroad company issue its own bonds, unindorsed by the Government, which could probably be negotiated at not more than 30 cents on the dollar, there would be required an issue of bonds to the amount of $18,750,000 to secure the amount named above, $15,000,000; the interest on which said bonds, at 7 per centum per annum, would amount to $1,312,500. Statement showing annual loss to company in issuing its bonds not indorsed by Government. Annual interest on $15,000,000 worth of bonds indorsed by of 5 per cent.... Interest on company's bonds not indorsed.. Annual loss to company $750,000 1, 312, 500 562, 500 From the above statement it will be seen that the principal and annual interest saved to the company by the Government indorsing the railroad bouds, with compound interest added, will amount in a few years to a sufficient sum to add a second track to the road. Anticipated business of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Rail. road.-Receipts on 60 feet grade east, on single track, with 100 miles sidetrack. Two trains leaving Saint Louis per hour, or one from Saint ...tons.. At 73 mills per ton per mile, the charge on grain from Saint Louis or Chicago to tide-water (800 miles) would amount to $6 per ton, and for 2,880,000 tons, as above, would amount to ... An average of 500,000 tons going west, at 1 cent per ton per mile, (800 miles). 1,000,000 tons of coal from the coal-fields of West Virginia to tide-water, a distance of 220 miles, at 1 cent per ton per mile............. 300,000 tons of coal from Indiana coal-fields to Cincinnati and Saint Louis, at an average distance of 150 miles, at 1 cent per mile.. Passengers Express Mails Gross receipts, (annual). The above charge on grain is more than 40 per cent. less than that charged by other roads from Saint Louis and Chicago to tide-water. The charge on the Erie Canal is 9 mills per ton per mile, 6 for transportation and 3 for toll. Cost per ton on grain from Saint Louis to Richmond by the Mississippi and Length of James River and Kanawha Canal, 485 miles; freight, $2.86 4 361 Entire charge........... 7 221 Cost of moving a ton of grain from Saint Louis to Washington City or Richmond (distance being equal) by the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad. River-transportation, as before, 903 miles By railroad, 330 miles, at 9 mills per ton Entire charge.. Difference in favor of river and Washington, Cincinnati Railroad... $2.86 2.97 5 83 1391 ..... 7 223 50 Freight by rivers and James River and Kanawha Canal.......... 7 721 Charges to be made by the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Rail road, from Saint Louis to tide-water, four years after the completion of the road. 7 mills per ton per mile, which, for the whole distance of 800 miles, amounts to .. $6.00 By the rivers and the James River and Kanawha Canal, (as shown above) ............. 7721 Leaving a difference per ton, in favor of all rail from Saint Louis or Chicago to tide-water amounting to more than 5 cents per bushel on wheat, and 4 cents on corn, of 1723 Charges on grain from Chicago to New York, via the lakes. On corn, per ton On wheat, per ton... Add 50 cents per ton insurance, and we have, as the total charge on wheat And on corn 7421 Wheat can be shipped from Washington or Richmond to New York, by steamer, per ton, for $1.73, and corn for $1.42. From the above statement it will be seen that grain can be transported from Chicago to tide-water, by the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad and by steamer to New York, for the same price now charged via the lakes and Erie Canal. H. Mis. 84- -2 7 23 6924 773 CAPACITY FOR FREIGHT OF THE WASHINGTON, CINCINNATI AND SAINT LOUIS RAILROAD. Four trains leaving Saint Louis or Chicago every hour, each Both ways.. Both ways for 200 days, average time annually open Both ways.. Festiniog Narrow-Gauge Railroad-gauge one foot, eleven Tons. 5, 766, 000 11, 520, 000 3,900,000 7,800,000 5, 000, 000 10, 000, 000 9, 380, 000 The charge for freight was one-third cent per ton per mile, and for passengers one cent per mile; the dividend, 40 per cent. on cost of road. Russian railroad reports show that roads of 34 feet gauge carry regularly 355 tons of train, exclusive of engine and tender, on grades of one in eighty-five, some of which grades are 5 miles in length. This is 236 tons of paying freight per train, allowing two pounds of paying freight to one of non-paying. The Ullenborg road, in Sweden, with a gauge of 33 feet, reports a business of 8,834 tons of freight and 5,946 passengers per mile, at a speed of 35 miles per hour. Major Adelskold, state engineer for Sweden, says: "In every case where small-gauge railroads have been built they have realized every expectation." Col. W. H. Greenwood, engineer and general manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, (170 miles of which is finished, the entire length to be 850 miles,) says that he has no hesitancy in déclaring the capacity of his road fully equal to that of a broad-gauge road. It is only a 3-foot gauge, and yet he was unable to see any difference as to capacity in favor of a broad gauge. He could do as much business on his road as could be done on nineteen-twentieths of the broad-gauge roads. Mr. Spooner, engineer, says: "That during the whole time he has had control of the Festiniog Railroad it has entirely demonstrated the theory of the immense saving on the narrow-gauge system, in having carried more freight and passengers at less cost than any line of railway now in use, and that the cars can run at the rate of 35 miles per hour with perfect safety, and can be maintained at not more than one-half the cost of the present system, to do the same business." It will be seen by the reports of work actually done on narrow-gauge roads, that the capacity of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad, which is a 3-foot-gauge road, and has a grade of 62 feet to the mile coming east, will be greater than that of the Erie Canal or of the James River and Kanawha Canal when completed, and that 7 mills per ton per mile for grain from the Mississippi Valley (from Saint Louis and Chicago) to tide-water at Washington City or Richmond will prove remunerative to the stockholders in the road. ACTUAL COST OF TRANSPORTATION. Use of freight cars per ton per mile. Road-bed.. Motive-power At which rate the cost of per ton from Saint Louis and Chicago to Mills. 13 11 4 $3.20 1 32 Grain can be transported on the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad from Saint Louis and Chicago, by increasing the length of the sidings and reducing the grade to 40 feet to the mile coming east, thereby increasing the capacity of the road one-third, at 5 mills per ton per mile, or for 12 cents per bushel for wheat and 10 cents per bushel for corn, provided tonnage can be furnished to the extent of two-thirds the capacity of the road. I will now show you the immediate effect upon the industries of the country that will be produced by the construction of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad through the aid asked for in the bill before you. It will afford immediate employment to seventy corps of engineers. Twelve thousand laborers, and three thousand masons, carpenters, and bridgebuilders will be furnished almost immediate employment in constructing the entire road within eighteen months from the passage of the bill. Three times as much work as will be required on this road, running, as it does, through a populous country, with all the necessary materials, supplies, and labor at hand, was accomplished on the Union and Central Pacific Railroads in one season, through a wilderness country, with no materials, supplies, or labor at hand, and where, in many sections, even the water used by man and beast was carted for more than fifty miles. There will also be required nearly 100,000 tons of iron of every kind, to furnish which will put into active operation more than twenty rollingmills with 1,000 hands each, thus giving employment to 20,000 laborers; 20,000 more laborers will be furnished work at furnaces, ore-banks, and collieries, and 20,000 more at the car-factories, engine-shops, car-wheel establishments, and in other railroad manufacturing departments. Industry will be revived, and prosperity again restored to a large section of the country. Nearly 100,000 laborers in the land now idle, or doing a small amount of labor, with insufficient supplies for their helpless families, will be furnished remunerative labor, and their homes will be gladdened with hopes of future prosperity. Such an impetus will be given to business throughout the country by the construction of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad, which, with the proposed aid from the Government, will be rapidly and immediately constructed, that the resources of the Government will be greatly increased. This poor boon is due from Congress to the people. The laborer, the grain-producer, and the manufacturer all demand immediate action of this kind at your hands. SUMMARY. 1. The Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad will form a grand central trunk-line from tide-water at Richmond and Washington to the Mississippi Valley, constructed by the best and cheapest route, across the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. 2. It will furnish the shortest and cheapest line for freights from Saint Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati to tide-water. 3. It will furnish an outlet to the seaboard for 5,000 miles of narrowgauge railroads, now being built in the Mississippi Valley. 4. It will have low grades, and vary less from a straight line than any through line now constructed. 5. It will be able to transport the western crops to the eastern markets at lower freights than any other railroad, and not exceeding that charged by the lakes and the Erie Canal. 6. It will furnish an outlet for the richest coal and iron deposits on the continent. 7. It is a narrow-gauge railroad, and can be constructed in less than half the time and for less than half the cost required to construct a standard-g -gauge road. 8. It can carry two pounds of paying to one pound of non-paying freight-standard-gauge roads carrying one to one. 9. It can be operated for 40 per cent. of the gross receipts, a standardgauge road requiring from 60 to 70 per cent. of gross receipts. Its capacity on the same grades and sharper curves is equal to the best standardgauge roads, and is also equal to that of the Erie, and the James River and Kanawha Canals, when completed. 10. It will furnish, in its construction and equipment, immediate employment to 100,000 laborers, mechanics, miners, and manufacturers. 11. It will be constructed on a cash basis, without sacrifices; and the appreciation in the value of property, within a large area influenced by the road, will be measured by millions of dollars. 12. Congress will have control of the rates of travel and transportation at all times. 13. The desired aid can be granted without any expenditure on the part of the Government. Respectfully submitted. P. B. BORST, President Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad Company. |